Routine jobs at risk of displacement by automation, says ADB

Automation and artificial intelligence improve business operations and boost productivity, but at the same time tend to displace workers doing routine jobs, a top economist of multilateral lender Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Friday.

“We have a prayer/hypothesis that routine type jobs have the highest risk of displacement," ADB chief economist Yasuyuki Sawada said in a forum in Pasig City.

Sawada cited the findings under the ADB’s Asian Development Outlook 2018 on how technology affects jobs, with the introduction of robotics in labor intensive industries raising the risk of displacement of routine tasks.

Even business process outsourcing sector, particularly customer support services, is at risk of being taken over by artificial intelligence.

In addition to job losses, routine and manual workers will likely experience lower wage growth and the worsening income inequality, according to the ADB report.

While automation and artificial intelligence may displace some roles, it can compliment jobs that require cognizance and discernment, Sawada noted.

“Non-routine jobs are least affected by new technologies,” the economist said.

Citing the ADB Outlook 2018, he said demand will grow most for non-routine cognitive and information technology jobs.

ADB’s analysis of five economies in developing Asia showed that over the past decade, the annual expansion of employment in jobs involving non-routine cognitive tasks, social interactions, and the use of ICT was 2.6 percentage points faster than the total employment. —VDS, GMA News